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Mets Claim Duke Ellis From White Sox

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The Mets have claimed outfielder Duke Ellis off waivers from the White Sox and optioned him to Double-A Binghamton, with Tim Healey of Newsday among those to relay the news on X. The Sox designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Mets have had a 40-man vacancy since catcher Tomás Nido was designated for assignment last week and won’t need to make a corresponding move.

Ellis, 26, was just selected to the White Sox roster earlier this month, largely on account of his speed. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2020, he has stolen 117 bases in the minor leagues while getting caught just 16 times. While with the big league club, the Sox put him into eight games but mostly as a pinch runner as he only stepped to the plate four times, though he stole four bags in four tries.

His work at the plate has been less impressive, as he’s hit .241/.328/.333 throughout his minor league career for a wRC+ of 88. His 10% walk rate is solid but he has also been punched out at a 25.7% rate. He has just 13 home runs in 961 plate appearances.

For the Mets, it’s an understandable claim. They had an open roster spot to use and Ellis clearly has game-changing baserunning abilities. Since he has a full slate of options, they can give him regular plate appearances in the minors but could perhaps consider bringing him up at some point as a pinch running specialist. Rosters expand in September and clubs often use the extra space for a player like this to improve the chances of scoring in a tight game, particularly in this age with the free runner in extra innings.

Royals Among Teams With Interest In Tommy Pham

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There may be no player who is more likely to be traded over the next month than Tommy Pham, who is hitting well as an affordable rental on the worst team in the league. It’d be very surprising if the White Sox didn’t move him before the July 30 deadline.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Royals are one of the teams that have shown interest. There’s nothing to suggest the Royals are the favorite or that any Pham trade is imminent. Heyman writes that multiple clubs are unsurprisingly looking at the veteran outfielder.

Kansas City has the worst outfield among playoff contenders. Royal outfielders have been the least productive offensive group in the majors. They entered today’s game with a cumulative .209/.268/.343 batting line. They’re 28th in batting average and slugging and dead last in on-base percentage. Six of the seven players who have logged meaningful outfield reps for K.C. have been well below-average hitters. The lone exception, utility player Garrett Hampson, has league average numbers propped up by a .418 batting average on balls in play.

The Royals have used Hunter Renfroe, Kyle Isbel and MJ Melendez as their primary outfield. Melendez is hitting .180/.246/.364 over 224 plate appearances. Isbel’s .225/.270/.348 line isn’t much better. Renfroe had a terrible first two months after signing a two-year free agent deal. He’d started to heat up in June before suffering a left foot injury that shelved him last week. Since Renfroe went down, the Royals have rotated Adam Frazier, Dairon Blanco and primary designated hitter Nelson Velázquez through right field. None of that trio has provided much offensively this year.

Pham is probably a better hitter than anyone in the Kansas City outfield. The 36-year-old ran a .256/.328/.446 line with 16 home runs across 481 plate appearances between the Mets and Diamondbacks last season. That didn’t translate into the kind of free agent interest that his camp was anticipating. Pham remained unsigned into the middle of April. He eventually inked a minor league contract with Chicago, though that came with an understanding that he’d be called up by the end of the month after getting some tune-up work in Triple-A.

The deal comes with a $3MM base salary and includes a $500K assignment bonus in the event of a trade. Pham and the Sox front office were likely both hoping for such an outcome. A trade would allow the Sox to recoup a mid-level prospect while giving the outfielder an opportunity to play for a contender.

Pham has held his up his end of the bargain, turning in solid numbers over 39 games. He’s hitting .276/.349/.388 over 169 plate appearances. His power is down — he has only three homers — but he’s drawing walks at a solid 9.5% clip against a 20.1% strikeout rate. Pham had a minimal injured list stint earlier this month because of a mild left ankle sprain.

Chicago gave Pham 26 starts in center field while Luis Robert Jr. was on the shelf. That’s his first fairly regular work there since 2018. A contender wouldn’t view him as more than an emergency option in center, but he’s a roughly average defender in left field.

That has been Melendez’s purview in Kansas City. He’s a former top prospect who hasn’t made enough contact to tap into his power upside. Melendez has punched out in 26.5% of his career plate appearances and owns a .217/.302/.388 line over parts of three seasons. He’s a left-handed hitter who hasn’t found consistent success against pitchers of either handedness.

The Royals presumably still have hope for Melendez, who is in his age-25 season. K.C. general manager J.J. Picollo said he anticipates improvements from the in-house outfielders while acknowledging the team could look outside the organization if they don’t start getting more production.

Earlier this week, Picollo told Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville on The Windup podcast that the team would like to add a player with the versatility to move between the infield and outfield. That’s not Pham, who has played all 7000+ innings of his MLB career on the grass. Picollo’s comments certainly don’t rule out acquiring a traditional outfielder, though. The GM expressed a broad desire to deepen the batting order and suggested he’d be aggressive in supporting the organization’s best chance at a playoff berth since their 2015 World Series.

The White Sox won’t have any qualms about trading Pham within the division. Conversely, the return would be modest enough that Kansas City shouldn’t be concerned about surrendering the kind of prospect capital necessary to a division rival. Beyond the desire for offensive help, Picollo has spoken on a couple occasions about their desire to add power arms to the bullpen. White Sox closer Michael Kopech fits the bill and has reportedly drawn some attention from K.C., among others. There’s no indication the teams have actively explored any kind of package deal, but it’s easy enough to see the potential appeal of that kind of arrangement.

White Sox Release Tim Hill

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The White Sox have released left-hander Tim Hill, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. They will remain on the hook for what’s left of his $1.8MM salary. Any other club could now sign him and would only have to pay the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.

Hill, 34, was signed in the offseason to a one-year deal. The White Sox kicked off a rebuild in 2023 and had traded away many established players, including relievers like Joe Kelly, Reynaldo López, Kendall Graveman and Keynan Middleton. When the offseason began, they continued the job by sending Aaron Bummer and Gregory Santos out of town.

The hope was that Hill could serve as a solid veteran presence in a relief corps with a lot of uncertainty and perhaps turn himself into a trade candidate prior to the deadline. Unfortunately, he allowed 5.87 earned runs per nine innings over his 27 appearances for the Sox and got designated for assignment last week. Since he has over five years of major league service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping all of his salary intact. Those circumstances made it fairly inevitable that he would find himself back in free agency.

Now that he’s on the open market and can be signed for cheap, teams may be willing to overlook his ERA and find encouraging signs in his other numbers. He has always been a ground ball guy, with a 60.5% rate in that department for his career. He has actually been even better than ever at keeping the ball on the dirt this year with a 65.6% grounder rate, well beyond the 42.6% league average for 2024. His 11% strikeout rate is incredibly low, but he only punched out 12.6% in 2022, a season in which he managed to have a 3.56 ERA with the Padres.

Hill may not be as exciting as a fire-breathing closer but he’s a solid veteran with 347 major league appearances and a 4.30 ERA in those. The results this year haven’t been great so far but he had a .436 batting average on balls in play while pitching for the club with arguably the worst defense in the majors. The Sox have a collective -20 Outs Above Average this year, slightly ahead of the Pirates and Marlins, while their -52 is easily the worst in baseball with the Rays second-last at -31. His 3.46 FIP and 3.90 SIERA paint a much more flattering picture than his ERA.

Since Hill can be signed for cheap and so many clubs around the league are battling pitching injuries, perhaps one of them will take a chance on him finding better results in a different environment.

MLBTR Podcast: José Abreu’s Release, Betts and Yamamoto Hit The IL And Even More Injuries

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Do the Giants have a chance of getting Pete Alonso? Or will the Mets make additions if they carry the power of Grimace into the deadline? (32:15)
  • How should the Nationals address their outfield surplus? And where did all these good pitchers come from? (42:35)
  • What are the chances the White Sox package Luis Robert Jr. and Garrett Crochet at the deadline? And if they trade Crochet and Erick Fedde, how will they fill the rotation after? (49:55)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

White Sox Notes: Crochet, Clevinger

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Unsurprisingly, the White Sox have set an “exorbitant” asking price on Garrett Crochet in early trade talks, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  As we already saw this past winter with the Dylan Cease trade negotiations and the eventual deal that sent Cease to the Padres, the Sox are naturally out for the biggest return possible when moving any of their most valuable trade chips.  Crochet definitely fits that description, as he has broken out as a starting pitcher this year and is under arbitration control through the 2026 season.

Chicago isn’t likely to drop its demands much (or even at all) until closer to the deadline, and Crochet’s arbitration control also gives the Sox some extra leverage since the team doesn’t need to move the southpaw any time soon.  If anything, Crochet having a full and healthy season as a starter might only increase what the White Sox might be looking for in trade talks during the offseason, when the Sox could speak to a wider array of potential suitors.

  • Sticking with the White Sox, Mike Clevinger told reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that he is set to begin rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte.  The plan is for Clevinger to start on Tuesday and Sunday in Charlotte before then possibly being activated from the 15-day injured list if all goes well.  Clevinger hasn’t pitched since May 23 due to a bout of elbow inflammation, and he has a 6.75 ERA over 16 innings and four starts this season.  Clevinger’s season already got off to a late start since he didn’t sign his one-year, $3MM free agent deal with Chicago until the start of April, but if he able to return healthy, he’ll have over a month to audition for interested teams heading into the trade deadline.

White Sox Select Chuckie Robinson

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2:39pm: White Sox manager Pedro Grifol confirmed to reporters (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) that Robinson had the ability to opt out of his contract with the club if not added to the 40-man roster.

12:08pm: The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of catcher Chuckie Robinson. Outfielder Duke Ellis was designated for assignment to make room for Robinson on the 40-man roster. Robinson was optioned to Triple-A following the selection of his contract.

Robinson, 29, signed with the White Sox on a minor league deal back in December. In 41 games at the Triple-A level this year, he’s hit just .235/.288/.386 with a 24.4% strikeout rate. That relatively lackluster slash line was nonetheless enough to earn Robinson his first time on a 40-man roster since 2022, when he appeared in 25 games for the Reds and slashed just .136/.136/.271 in 60 trips to the plate for the club. With the White Sox, Robinson as a depth catcher behind the club’s current tandem of Martin Maldonado and Korey Lee, offering the club an optionable catcher they can rely on in the event of an injury. By adding Robinson to the 40-man roster, the White Sox also bypass any hypothetical opt-outs that Robinson may have available to him in his minor league deal with the club, securing his place in the organization.

Making room for Robinson on the 40-man is Ellis, who was selected onto the club’s roster earlier this month. The 26-year-old was a 26th-round pick by the Padres back in 2017 but did not sign. Ultimately, he landed with the White Sox in 2020 as an undrafted free agent and made his pro debut for the club the following year. Ellis worked his way through the club’s minor league system over the past four years but generally struggled with the bat at each level, posting an overall slash line of just .241/.328/.333 during his four seasons in the minors.

Ellis nonetheless managed to crack the majors despite that lackluster offensive performance thanks primarily to his blazing speed. The outfielder has swiped 117 bags in 133 opportunities during his time in the minors and went 34-for-36 at the minor league level on the basepaths this year. That elite baserunning carried over to his time in Chicago, where the White Sox used him primarily as a pinch runner and saw him steal four bases in four attempts during his brief time in Chicago. The White Sox will have one week to either work out a trade or attempt to pass Ellis through waivers. If he goes unclaimed, they’ll have the opportunity to outright him to the minor leagues. Given Ellis lackluster offensive ability, it would be easy to imagine clubs passing on the youngster. With that being said, however, it’s at least possible that his skills as a speedster could catch the eye of a team with room for a pinch runner and defensive replacement in their bench mix.

White Sox Select Chad Kuhl

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The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Chad Kuhl from Triple-A Charlotte. Chicago also reinstated outfielder Tommy Pham from the injured list and optioned righty Jordan Leasure and outfielder Zach DeLoach to Charlotte in a pair of corresponding moves.

Kuhl, 31, is a veteran of seven big league seasons who joined the South Siders on a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s made 13 appearances in Charlotte, 11 of them starts, and posted a 4.34 ERA in that time. Kuhl’s 17.3% strikeout rate is considerably below-average, while his 13.6% walk rate with the Knights is substantially higher than average. He’s turned in a strong 53.5% grounder rate and done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, averaging 0.8 homers per nine frames.

Kuhl spent the 2023 season with the Nationals organization but struggled through 16 appearances before being cut loose. He announced shortly thereafter that while he’d received contract offers to sign elsewhere, he was taking a leave from the game to support his wife, Amanda, as she battled Stage 3 breast cancer. She announced via social media in November that she’d completed her cancer treatments. The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt chronicled the couple’s journey through that harrowing ordeal this past April, revealing within that Amanda is thankfully in the “maintenance” phase of her treatment and no longer showing any sign of cancer.

Prior to Kuhl’s time with the Nats, he spent five seasons with the Pirates and a sixth with the Rockies. In all, he’s totaled 615 big league innings and pitched to a 4.98 ERA, though that number is skewed to an extent by last year’s grisly 8.45 mark while quietly dealing with that terrifying family issue away from the field. Kuhl’s best season came with the ’17 Pirates, when he started 31 games and logged a 4.35 ERA over the course of 157 1/3 innings.

The White Sox don’t have an immediate opening in the rotation, but Kuhl can provide a long relief option and perhaps step up next week if the Sox want to get their starters some extra rest. Top starter Garrett Crochet, notably, has already established a new career-high in innings pitched after shifting from a relief role to the rotation this season. For now, the Sox have Chris Flexen, Erick Fedde and top prospect Drew Thorpe lined up to make the next three starts in their road series with the Diamondbacks.

Michael Kopech Drawing Interest From Several Teams

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The White Sox are one of the game’s few clear sellers with the trade deadline still six weeks out, and teams have been showing recent interest in closer Michael Kopech, reports Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. Among the interested clubs are the Royals, Phillies and Yankees, each of whom has sent scouts to watch the hard-throwing righty in the past few weeks. Levine adds that rival clubs believe the Sox are seeking controllable pitching in return.

Kopech, 28, is in his first season as a full-time reliever after making a combined 52 starts with the ChiSox in 2022-23. He’s taken up the role of the team’s primary closer, though given Chicago’s dismal results this season, he’s only picked up five saves on the year. Kopech’s bullpen tenure got out to a strong start, but he’s hit a rough patch of late, yielding eight earned runs over his past 6 1/3 frames. That rocky stretch has ballooned his ERA from 3.18 to 4.91.

Despite that lackluster mark, there’s plenty to like about Kopech. Once touted as one of the game’s elite pitching prospects — he and Yoan Moncada headlined the White Sox’ return for Chris Sale during their last rebuild — Kopech boasts a power arsenal that helps him miss bats in droves. He’s averaged a blazing 98.7 mph on his heater this season and punched out a gaudy 32.3% of his opponents. Kopech’s 14.1% swinging-strike rate is well north of the league average. That power arsenal, as is often the case, comes with notable command issues; Kopech has walked 13.5% of his opponents in 2024 and sports an unsightly 13.6% mark dating back to 2022.

Beyond his bat-missing ability, Kopech is both affordable and controllable. He’s earning $3MM in 2024 and would be arbitration-eligible once more this winter before reaching free agency following the 2025 season. Adding Kopech for a pair of pennant chases would give any contending club a power arm with an often triple-digit heater, bat-missing slider and a newly implemented cutter that’s been a plus pitch thus far.

With regard to the interested parties, none of the three teams listed by Levine comes as a surprise. The Royals have already been canvassing the bullpen market in early June, though their status as a division rival to the White Sox might make it tougher to complete a deal with Kansas City than with Philadelphia, New York or any of the surely yet-unnamed clubs who have interest in prying Kopech from the South Siders. That said, the Royals rank 22nd in the majors with a 4.32 ERA from their relievers. Their bullpen’s collective 93.5 mph average fastball velocity (per Statcast) is 27th in the majors, while its 17.7% strikeout rate is the worst in MLB. Kopech would add the type of power, bat-missing repertoire the Royals currently lack.

The Phillies (3.55, ninth) and Yankees (3.19, third) both rank among MLB’s ten best teams in terms of bullpen earned run average. They’ve gotten there in slightly different ways, with the Phillies focusing on strikeouts (26.5%, third in MLB) while the Yankees have a below-average 21.9% strikeout rate but also possess the third-best ground-ball rate of any team (46.8%). Both teams are among the three best in baseball at limiting home runs, with the Philly bullpen sitting at 0.68 HR/9 and the Yankees narrowly trailing at 0.74 HR/9. Both clubs are luxury-tax payors in 2024, making Kopech’s relatively modest $3MM salary all the more appealing.

It stands to reason that the Royals, Phillies and Yankees are just three of many clubs looking at Kopech as the trade deadline looms next month. Bullpen help is on every postseason hopeful’s deadline wishlist every summer, and Kopech is the type of power arm that any team would love to try to maximize. While velocity is up throughout the game, and triple-digit fastballs are no longer the rarities they once were, that doesn’t take away from Kopech’s impressive repertoire. The only pitchers in MLB (min. 10 innings) who throw harder on average are Oakland’s Mason Miller, Minnesota’s Jhoan Duran, Milwaukee’s Abner Uribe, Arizona’s Justin Martinez and St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley. Kopech’s bottom-line run prevention numbers may not stand out, but other teams surely covet the upside and feel there’s a potentially elite reliever to be unlocked with a few tweaks.

Eloy Jiménez To Begin Rehab Assignment

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The White Sox announced today that designated hitter/outfielder Eloy Jiménez has been sent to the Arizona Complex League White Sox on an injury rehab assignment. Rehab assignments for non-pitchers come with a 20-day maximum before they need to be reinstated from the injured list, if there’s no health setback.

Jiménez, 27, suffered a left hamstring strain about three weeks ago. Manager Pedro Grifol said at that time that Jiménez was going to miss an “extended period of time” without putting a firm timeline on it. Now it seems that he’s ready to get back into games and, barring a setback, return to the major league club by the beginning of July or perhaps sooner.

The timeline is notable since Jiménez is an obvious candidate to be traded before the trade deadline. The White Sox are deep into a rebuild, having traded away players like Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Aaron Bummer, Robbie Grossman, Reynaldo López, Jake Burger and others in the past year. They have a dismal record of 17-52 this season, the worst in the majors by a significant margin.

Jiménez is in the final guaranteed season of the six-year, $43MM extension he signed with the Sox going into 2019. He’s making $13MM this year and then there are two club options. Next year’s is priced at $16.5MM with an $18.5MM option for 2026, with each of those having a $3MM buyout.

Over the course of that deal, he has shown the ability to be a significant threat in the lineup, but he has often struggled to deliver on that promise due to injuries. He has a career slash line of .271/.321/.479, which translates to a wRC+ of 116, indicating he’s been 16% better than league average overall.

However, his 122 games played in his rookie season are still a personal best. Since then, he has only once hit the 85-game mark. He has spent time on the IL due to a high right ankle sprain, a right ulnar nerve contusion, a left adductor strain, a ruptured left pectoral tendon, an appendectomy, a torn hamstring tendon and multiple left hamstring strains.

It’s possible that the compounding injuries are taking a toll on his body. He slashed .276/.327/.504 from 2019 to 2022 but has hit just .263/.310/.427 since the start of 2023, the latter line translating to a wRC+ of 102. Since Jiménez isn’t really a burner on the bases nor a strong fielder, the lesser offensive output is a blow to his value.

With the health problems and his diminished results of late, the interest is likely to be muted. What might help the Sox, however, is the expanded playoff field. As of this moment, the Sox are one of just five clubs that are more than 4.5 games away from a playoff spot. All other clubs will have to make some difficult decisions about how much to sell or whether to do any at all. The Rays and Blue Jays are reportedly putting off the decision until later while Astros general manager Dana Brown has said he plans on buying even though his club is near the back of the playoff race.

The Orioles could reportedly be looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder. The Mariners are leading their division but fired their offensive coordinator but of their struggles at the plate. Atlanta lost Ronald Acuña Jr. for the year and has been scuffling offensively lately. The Royals have a terrible outfield, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently explored for Front Office subscribers. Teams like the Cardinals, Guardians, Reds, Rangers, Cubs, Blue Jays and Twins could be looking for some extra firepower.

Before any of that can even be a consideration, Jiménez will have to get healthy and stay that way for long enough to show some promise against major league pitchers. This year’s trade deadline is on July 30.

MLBTR Podcast: Injured Astros, The Chances Of Bad Teams Rebounding In 2025 And More

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The Astros have lost several players to injury but general manager Dana Brown insists they will be deadline buyers (0:45)
  • With so few teams clearly out of contention, signs are pointing towards a seller’s market at the deadline (7:20)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Out of the five worst teams right now (Athletics, Angels, White Sox, Marlins and Rockies), who most needs to replenish their farm system and who could possibly turn things around by 2025? (11:20)
  • The Guardians need a right-handed right fielder with power. Who is a viable target? (20:40)
  • Will the Marlins to try trade Jesús Luzardo and Jazz Chisholm Jr.? (24:30)
  • Could you see Alex Anthopoulos of the Braves trying to get Kevin Gausman from the Blue Jays? (28:35)
  • How active will the Reds be at the deadline? (32:15)
  • Should the Dodgers acquire Javier Báez from the Tigers and move Mookie Betts back to the outfield and/or option Gavin Lux? (35:40)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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